Fate/stay night: Chilling Winter Chapter Seven: Gilgamesh
It looked like a tornado had struck Tohsaka Mansion. Construction workers littered the area for miles, but not much work had been done yet. Since Lancer’s attack, the remainder of the front end, what little that even was had crumbled, leaving every room in the front of the house--as ell as some rooms in the back due to door being left open--were visible to the outside world. Aside from the workers, security guards, all of them most likely Mages, patrolled in droves, scavenging damn near every inch of the land, it seemed. Assassin hid behind a tree, straight as a board, and Lancer perched on a branch in the same tree. The two of them gazed upon the death ground that they were about to embark onto, feelings of dread quickly overcoming their expressions. The sun was gently rising over the horizon, better illuminating the world before them. Assassin knelt on the ground, head bent, one sword sticking into the ground, his other sword, which he must have acquired somewhere on his way here, placed on the ground underneath him, the two blades grazing each other. He then began to chant indistinguishably, earning himself humorously confused looks from Lancer. This ritual, of sorts, took two minutes of long, painfully awkward silence, Lancer visibly getting more annoyed and impatient the longer he had to wait, gripping his longest spear with his left hand, and gritting his teeth. As he was about to make his move, Assassin stood back up again, both Katanas in his hands. “What on earth was that?” Lancer inquired in deep confusion, putting emphasis on the lost last word. “One of my abilities.” He replied, looking at the mansion. “A type of Astral Projection, except it sends my mind to survey the area instead of my spirit.” “Find anything interesting?” Lancer questioned, seemingly unphased by this information. “Miss Tohsaka and her Servant are nowhere to be found, for one.” He informed Lancer, a cocky grin locating his sky blue lips, darkened by the shadows caused by the trees. Lancer’s grin showed his teeth. “Hell yeah, this’ll be much easier than expected.” “Let’s just finish the mision before making such huge claims.” Assassin suggested. Their conversation was shattered when they heard running from the direction of the mansion. Assassin was the first to react, flipping backward several feet into a largve bush, which rustled as he entered. Lancer followed suit dropping down into a separate bush, a few inches behind Assassin. The two of them parted their respective bush to peak through, and the surprise guest turned out to be a small French girl with amethyst-colored eyes, adorned in a gauntlet of silver magic armor, covered by a long, thin, purple cloak which parted just below her stomach, covering up parts of her legs but revealing other parts of her legs. She had long, thick, gold hair, tied in a winding ponytail down to her butt, and had long, purple socks stretching more than halfway up her legs. She had a silver, eagle-shaped tiara on her forehead. “Where’s Tohsaka?” She asked in a very haughty tone, a frown on her face. “No clue.” The most senior guard exclaimed, his rank designated with gold linning around the neck fo his uniform, which nobody else possessed. “What?” She declared rehtorically. “Rider said she and Saber were returning home!” One of the other guards interrupted. “I told you it was useless, Ruler. Rin isn’t stupid enough to return here after that idiot, Lancer, trashed it like this.” Lancer retrieved an irritated expression at being called an idiot, using all his will power to not attack immediately. “Where else could she go besides her own house?” She questioned. The most senior guard answered again. “I’ve heard a rumor that her father, Tokiomi Tohsaka, created an underground hideout somewhere in Fuyuki City before he died. No clue where it’s located, though.” “Figures.” A deep, brooding voice sounded off. This mysterious man was standing over by the devastated mansion, which both Lancer and Assassin could tell by quickly averting their eyes. He walked over. Everyone in the area bowed down to one knee in respect, all except for the girl they called Ruler, who just stood in front of him, unpleased. The man raised his hand, and the surrounding guards rose, each one returning to their work, except for the two whom were chatting with Ruler before. “I’ve been looking for you!” She hissed, resting the palm of her left hand on the end of her sword, which was sheathed on her left side. “Likewise.” He replied with barely any emotion at all. He was fairly tall and heavy set, weather by ft or muscle unknown, with long, thick, flowing, blood red hair, tied into a huge ponytail. His attire consisted of a red sleeveless linen sweater, with a black T-shirt with sleeves underneath. “That brother of mine has always been irritating.” He lamented. “Hiding things, scheming behind my back. I hear he even gave my other niece to that shitbag Matou.” “Do you know where this ‘secret hideout’ would be located?” Ruler asked. “I’ve got a few locations in mind, but nothing certain.” He explained. “I’ll send some men to them soon to check them out. In the meantime, I’ll search for Rin and Saber myself. I have a talent for finding blood.” “Aren’t you forgetting something?” He acquired a puzzled expression on his face at this. “Explain how the war began so early?” The look on his face made it clear he understood. “It’s at least ten years early.” “I’m still investigating it myself.” He assured her. “I’ve got a bad feeling.” She said grimly. “The World can’t take the strain of having a war only a mere ten years after the previous.” “You mean the World didn’t cause this one?” He exclaimed in shock. “No.” She confirmed. “And currently The World is breaking down, soly but surely. We need to end this before it’s too late.” “The mission comes first.” He declared. “You have what I asked for?” “Ren, sometimes I question your priorities.” She scowled, but reached into her pocket anyways, pulling out a small, square cube, setting it in the open palm hand that Ren was offering. The cube itself was red, but had a circular sphere that was light blue on one half, quickly fading to pure white on the other half. Ren held it up to his eye and gazed into the sparkles that radiated off of it, almost transfixed by it. After a few seconds he slipped it in his own pocket, after which one of the guards tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to spin around with a start. “My team has returned, sir.” He informed Ren. “Kirei Kotomine and his accomplices can’t be found.” “Did you try the Church?” He inquired. “we couldn’t get in.” He responded. “A powerful barrier was defending it.” Ren released a deep, annoyed sigh. “For the love. Don’t tell me that fourth-rate Mage is able to keep you people out.” He angriliy shoved passed the crowd. “No.” Another spoke up. “The barrier was way to strong to have been created by him.” Ren stopped in place, a stunned expression crossing his face. It soon morphed into a pleased smirk. “Caster. This war just continues to get more interesting.” After five more seconds Ren continued to walk, his cocky grin never ceasing, somehow getting slightly more sinister as he trotted along, his pace remaining normal and steady. Elsewhere, Shirou came rushing out of Einzbern Forest, reaching the section of Fuyuki City known as Miami Town. This rural area was littered with low budget housing primarily, most of them no more than one story high, the rest, which was only a select few, no more than two stories high, the sight of garages scarce, and the sight of sheds common, which were all probably built by the tenants themselves. Shirou crashes through almost every yard he came across, trampling flower gardens, and invading chicken coops, almost losing balance countless times because of the rough tumble made worse by the horribly uneven ground. Finally, he reached the Matou residence. Guarded on three sides by houses, Shirou arriving from the back. As far as his stressed out eyes could see, grass and weeds appeared to just crawl up the sides of Sakura’s house, some thorny and some not, giving an eerie feeling. The windows were tinted on the outside, so he couldn’t see anything or anyone within, no matter how hard he tried. Three doors were in his line of sight. He knew the one on the left end of the house was the primary back door, the one on the right end of the house led to the laundry room, and the middle one led to the back porch, which could be easily seen into. This was also the only one that was open, so Shirou effortlessly slipped through it, making no noise at all. As he walked along, the flimsy boards below him creaked loudly. The sudden opening oft he door startled Shirou, who spun around fast, fists in front of his face defensively. The person who greeted him was an ancient, grizzled man, so old, wrinkled, and short that he barely even looked human at first. He was bald, walking with a brown, wooden cane shorter than himself, and held a permanent, soul-piercing scowl on his face. His clothing consisted of a thin, green hakama on his upper body, a grass-green robe covering his lower body minus his feet, which had white socks covered by brown sandals, and a short, tin, black cloak partially covering the hakama. The leather covering this elderly man attempted vicously to stir up Shirou’s allergies, so he tried his hardest to keep as much distance as he possibly could. The man squinted his eyes. “Who are you?” His speech was slow, yet demanding, and unmistakably unpleased. “Answer me child, before I forfeit what little patience I have a this hour.” “E-Emiya.” He stuttered. “Shirou Emiya.” this old man’s left eye raised after hearing his name, but Shirou didn’t seem to notice. “I’m friends with Sakura.” “Yes, I’ve heard of you.” He confirmed. Shirou’s arms dropped down more relaxed now, and the man’s eyes drifted to the back of the hand Shirou’s command seals, which briefly appeared. Shirou covered them with his hand opposite, before they disappeared after five seconds. “Is Sakura still awake?” Shirou asked. The man squinted his eyes in suspicion, but soon broke the squint, closing his eyes. “Actually, she has yet to return home. I was about to call the cops to go searching. Can you find her for me?” The man’s voice sounded sincerely concerned, but something was off putting about him to Shirou. Maybe it was his lack of a smile, maybe it was his eerily closed eyes, maybe it was his slow speech, or maybe it was something else entirely. And Shirou could think of several reasons to explain all that, the reason common among them being he’s old. However, Shirou, a guy who wasn’t usually very perceptive, could tell he was up to no good, somehow. “Of course!” Shirou responded immediately. He turned around and attempted to dart away, but halted when he heard a ring on the door bell. The hold man cocked his head partially around, a puzzled expression on his face. Come to think of it, all his expressions looked almost exactly the same, the subtle differences mostly covered by his mountains of wrinkles. “Maybe that’s her. Come in, boy.” He went inside, Shirou following close. “Oh, next time you want to see my granddaughter, you call and use the front door.” He ordered sternly. “Your granddaughter?” Shirou repeated, shocked. “So, you’re Zouken Matou?” “Indeed.” “I’ve been wondering.” He said as they slowly made their way through the Matou household, Shirou having to constantly slow down to keep up with Zouken’s pace. “Does Sakura live with her parents? Because she never talks about them, and she tells me everything.” “No.” He sai, afterwards hesitating for a moment, which Shhirou noticed. “They died a long time ago. “She lives with me and her brother, Shinji.” “Is it hard to raise tow children at your age?” Shirou inquired. “Not at all.” Zouken replied. “Well, it was at first, but they’ve become pretty self reliant anymore, so I can just focus on my studies. Sakura does help sometimes, though. That youngster has a natural talent for magic. Too bad she’s so damn timid.” “Shirou chuckled, a smile finally reaching his lips. “That’s probably a good thing, to prevent her from doing evil deeds with magic.” “I suppose so.” Zouken repied, his voice low and solemn. The rest of their journey to the front door remained in utter silence. Matou Residents was very old fashioned, compared to his or Rin’s house; probably because the head of the household was so ancient. Aside from how gigantic it was in scale, it looked just like low cost housing, which haven’t been common in Japan for at least ten years. Countless pictures littered the walls in each room, one of which caught Shirou’s eyes, straight away. A woman with long, flowing, black hair, and pale skin. Sakura’s mother, he could tell right away, just by looking into her eyes. She had the same, innocent, gentle look. Next to it, the same size, was another, which must have been her father; Shirou had a rather difficult time believing that, because he looked nothing like them. A smug smile, slicked back hair, a red business suite, with a black tie, and a fire in his eyes the likes of which Shirou had never seen in his life. These two were more like portraits than pictures, the largest in the house. In the living room, which is where the front door was located, two more notable pictures. One was on the left side of the door of Zouken. He looked the same way in the picture he does now, so Shirou figured it must have been taken very recently. The second, on the right side of the door, was Sakura, also recent, giving him her signature innocent smile, which is one of the things that Shirou had grown to love about her. Zouken opened the door and revealed Sakura, clad in her normal school uniform still, a sudden look of surprise onto her face. “Shirou?” She said in a questioning tone. “Sakura, good, you’re alright.” Shirou exclaimed followed by a sigh of relief. “Um...” She said confession. “Why wouldn’t I be?” Zouken butted in, impatient. “Well, don’t just stand out their in the rain Sakura, getting here already.” Zouken and Shirou parted opposite directions to allow her through. Shirou didn’t even notice that it had started to rain. Not just rain, but pour. In the short time it took to get from the back porch to the front door. Sakura was soaking wet, water dripping off of her at a rapid rate, her hair heavy and straight in stead of light and following as per usual. “Where have you been, girl?” zouken asked in an angry tone. “You’re three hours late.” “Sorry grandfather.” She responded, bowing respectfully. “I took a detour to my parent’s grave before coming home.” She rose her head after making that statement. Zouken glanced at Shirou, then back at her again, and sighed. “I guess that’s fine then.” Sakura turned to Shirou. Even though she was confused, she looked pleased to see him. “So why are you here, Senpai?” “earlier today I talked to Shinji.” Shirou began, trying to come up with the most truthful lie that he possibly could. “He said you were was involved in some sort of conflict recently, but passed it onto him to avoid violence. Anything you wanna talk about with me/ I’m always here when you need me, Sakura.” Both of their eyes twitched at this information being released. Shirou noticed that Sakura’s smile briefly retreated to a frown, quickly returning to try and mask her sudden change of emotions. “I-I’m not sure I follow.” Shirou didn’t seem to pay any mind to her stutter. “What is that troublesome boy going on about now?” Zouken grunted tightening his bony hand around his brown, wooden cane, half the size of his own body, in anger. I don’t know what brother told you Senpai, but he’s probably just going off on his arrogant rambles again, nothing more.” She insisted, clasping both of her hands together in front of her, and holding a nervous smile on her lips. “So.....you’re okay?” Shirou questioned, full of worry. “Of course!” She started cheerfully, her eyes shut. “No need to concern yourself with me, Senpai.” Shirou was unsure, but wanted to trust her. Desperately wanted to trust her. After all, she’s never lied to him in the past, why would she steer him wrong now of all times? “Okay, I guess that’s fine then.” Shirou reluctantly said finally, after a brief pause. He approached the door, but Sakura stopped him by gripping hold of his wrist. As soon as he understood he remained still, and she walked over toa nearby closet and pulled out a thick, yellow, button up, hoodie-rain coat, then returned to him and gave it away, Shirou accepting gratefully. Sakura’s eyes, which were still closed, were shaking for some reason which neither Shirou or Zouken seemed to have noticed. “Thanks.” He said, forcing a smile. I’ll return this to you next time I see you.” He promised. “No need. Keep it.” She replied. He put it on, and it fit perfectly; the sleeves went just barely passed his hands, the bottom went all the way down passed his knees, and the hood was so large that most of his face was shadowed out when he slipped it over his head. He opened the door, and partially stepped out, turning back around again for a moment. “Thanks again for the chat.” he said. “And sorry for sneaking in like this.” “No worries. I’ll see you tomorrow, Senpai.” She said, bowing. Shirou left, jogging away from the Matou household in the pouring, crashing rain. Sakura creaked the door shut, and finally opened up her eyes partially, revealing tears that her eyelids were holding back. Her smile went to a frown, then almost emotionless, because she knew what was coming next..... SMACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! An ear curdling crack that sounded as if a small firework had just went off, followed by a thud on the ground. Sakura, tears raining down her face, a dark red mark from her chin, across her cheek, ending at the edge of her forehead, and Zouken, his cane off the ground, in a striking pose, some of Sakura’s blood dripping off of the pointy tip. Sakura waddled this way and that way on the floor, attempting to climb to her feet, but Zouken kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying back into the door. Sakura remained on the ground, barely moving now, blood trickling out of her mouth, eyes wide open but appearing to be lost in a daze. “Who said you could give Rider to Shinji, Sakura?” her grandfather hissed. Pressing the point of his cane up against her cheek just enough to cut her, blood exiting, but not enough to slice all the way through. “There’s reason that you were chosen to be a Master! Not HIM!” “I--” Sakura began, voice weak, trying to choose her words wisely. “I didn’t want any involvement in this horrible, bloody conflict. And Shinji was more than willing to take over for me.” “That is not for you to decide, child, only the Holy Grail.” He exclaimed. “Speaking of which, how did you transfer your command seals anyways? That shouldn’t even be possible.” “C-Caster.” She muttered. She tried to continue after a few seconds, but Zouken Matou interrupted her. “Maeda. Of curse. Only her Noble Phantasm could make something like this possible. And that wretch is working Kotomine, too. Damn it all.” Buy now, the pain was slowly starting to dissipate, and Sakura wobbled to her feet, wiping blood from her lips and the rim of her lips. Her face, instead of angered, gave an expression of reluctant defeat. “I apologize, grandfather.” She said sadly, bending to her knees and lowering her head to bow respectfully. “I should have never given up being a Master, that’s the equivalent of going against you.” “Exactly.” His voice was so bitter and cold. “Remember what happened to your uncle ten years ago? Keep pressing your luck, child, and I will personally see to it that your fate is much worse than his.” She stayed bowed for five more seconds, until Zouken put the point of his cane underneath her chin and lifted it up, in order to see the pain and misery on her face. Tears roaring down her face, eyelids and cheeks red. Zouken struck her with the sharp point on his cane five more times in a row, taking a five second pause between each one. While Sakura was lying on the floor, trembling in not just one type of pain, Zouken placed the handle of his cane against her skull, the cane began to glow black and purple, and soon so did Sakura, all her physical wounds quickly healing as if nothing had happened to her at all. Zouken did this all the time, beat her senseless or tortured her when she disobeyed him, then healed her to cover it up. Sakura has developed a skill with acting because of it, especially in front of Shirou and Rin. When he was done he turned away and motioned for her to follow him with his finger. Sakura, who was sitting down, leaning against the door, understood and rose to her feet again. The two went into an elevator hidden behind a bookcase. The journey below the surface took over two hours, despite how abnormally fast they were going. Once they reached the bototm, they stepped out of the elevator. The basement was much huger in width and scale than the house above. Grey stone walls, tinted mostly green due to the odd lighting dangling from the ceiling surrounded them. They descended further, down stone steps, the stone getting more and more gray as they continued due to the green lights being unable to reach. When they stopped, the chamber still went deeper, much deeper than the eye could see; and this wasn’t even half way down. To their left was one of many checkpoint rest areas on the path down; they had already crossed five. This one, however, was different. T he largest by a great margine, skeletons littered the floor, hung off the walls, and strung up from the ceilings, some of the, but not all of them, covered on different locations, with dried, flaky blood. The walls were damaged and about to fall over, at least by appearance. In the center was a deep pit. So dark inside that it’s contents couldn’t be fully made out, but faint, tiny movement was detectable. At the area Sakura stood, gray stepping stones lead into the pit, a railing on each side. Zouken stood a few feet behind her. “You know what to do.” Zouken said, a statement, not a question, matter-of-fact. Sakura hesitated at first. She wanted to cry, but her eyes were already dry and swollen. She wanted to scream, but nothing came out. She wanted to at the very least frown, but she couldn’t seem to move her lips. It was like this almost every night. She wanted to fight back against him, even tried to at times, but never managed to get passed the “wanting” stage. In the end she always complied, no matter what. Sakura slowly undressed herhself, as per her usual tradition during the night. She took everything off; school dress, under shirt, bra, skirt, panties, shoes, socks, and the purple ribbon tied to her hair. She gradually stepped forward until she reached the edge of the pit, and then stalled. Zouken, impaitent, struck her once again with his cane, leaving a large, red, bloody scar from the back of her neck to her butt. She had to hold both of the rims tightly as to not fall in face first. When she regained her balance, she gazed into the black goop below. It bubbled, crackled, and popped before her eyes, small creatures clearly moving around in it, but their appearances couldn’t be made out clearly. With no more hesitation, Sakura walked in, moving one foot in front of the other, slowly. Her left foot was the first to touch. It was scalding hot, forcing Sakura to withdraw her foot momentarily. Normally it had been warm, no more than fifty degrees, but tonight it had to be well over one hundred, possibly even two hundred. She had to force her foot to sink all the way in and to ignore the intense heat. The texture was the same as always; slim and wet, the parasites inside touching and swarming around her body constantly. The deeper she got, the slower she got due to this pit being sticky and difficult to move in. When she arrived at breast deep, she was pulled under, and reemerged a whole minute later, floating on the surface. Some of the creatures, the ones taking turns crawling all over her now, could be seen clearly, long, black, slimy, wet, thick, wide worms, each one seeming to have a pair of wings which were slumped over because of disuse. The parasites licked her, bit her, and made her body their home, and all Zouken could do was gaze down from above, showing no concern for his granddaughter. “Do not worry, child.” He said in a low voice; the way her eyes shifted back and fourth said that she could hear him. “It’s almost done. After ten years, the crest worms are finally almost finished cultivating your mama. Pretty soon, we’ll be able to move on to the next phase of the plan.” And with that Zouken left Sakura behind without another word, making the long time consuming trek back up to the surface level. The night sky was clouded over, so no stars or even the moon could be seen. Rain was still pounding furiously, thunder crackling loudly, and lightning glowing so bright that the entirety of Fuyuki City lit up for a few seconds every time it shone. A tall, blond, spiky haired man walked down the middle of the street, adorned in a thick, heavy, full-body, golden suite of armor. The man’s hazel eyes shown a bright, menacing gaze. Dashing passed him was Shirou, the man noticing him only for a moment, and Shirou not noticing him at all. The man stopped, and then started toward him. After a few seconds, he disappeared, reappearing in front of his target. Shirou stopped with a start, losing his balance and tumbling to the ground. The mystery man just glared down at him. Shirou clutched his fists and stood up. “And you woul dbe?” Shirou inquired, being sure to keep his distance. “Your eyes.” He said, his voice low, almost a whisper, and slightly smug sounding. “Theyu look different.” Shirou was just confused, and progressively getting angrier. “Answer my question, dammit!” He blasted. “I’m nobody.” He responded, without skipping a beat. Behind him, a yellow portal opened up out of thin air, and ten golden blades poked out and remained in that position, the man lifting up his left hand so his palm faces Shirou, and the back faces the portal. “That’s something.....that we seem to have in common, Emiya.” Shirou didn’t have time to ponder the notion that he knew his name, and had to dodge one of the golden blades, which bolted toward him. He succeeded, but was scratched on the cheek; the blood ran down his chin, but stopped shortly after Shirou wiped it away once, proving that it wasn’t all that severe. Two more blades came charging, gashing Shirou in both legs, and then two more wounded him in both arms. With out being able to stand, the pain so severe Shirou could barely think straight, he stared down with the last five, thinking that it was the end for him. One after another, they fired. Shirou squeezed his eyes shut hard. After a few seconds he heard five sounds of the same type, like swords clashing with each other. When he peaked his eyes open he saw Archer, blurry at first but quickly focusing better confronting the man trying to kill him, ten blades laying between them, five of them Archer’s daggers. “I let you out of my sight for a few hours, and you almost end up getting your ass killed.” Archer berated Shirou, with no play-fullness or joking in his voice. “Worthless Master.” Shirou rose to his feet, brushing the dirt off his pant legs. “I don’t wanna hear that from you? Where were you?” “Chasing you half way across town.” He replied with bitterness. “Is that girl alright?” He asked. “Yeah.” Shirou responded. “She got home way late, but she’s perfectly safe.” The mystery man grinned and then chuckled, brief but loud enough to be heard by his opposition. “You got something to say?” Archer questioned, pointing one of his red daggers at him; he had two new ones in each hand now. “Nothing much. It’s just that naive fools like Emiya here make me laugh.” He said. Archer smiled. “Although I don’t necessarily disagree with that sentiment,” he said, receiving a dirty look from Shirou, which he ignored, “as his Servant, I feel obligated to question you,” putting sarcastic emphasis on the word ‘obligated.’ “First, your name!” Shirou demanded. He stood tall, clutching his fists, trying to look brave; this, however, only caused the man to swing his head backward, laughing hysterically, suddenly halting his laughter after only ten seconds. After taking a deep breath to compose himself again he finally answered, “Gilgamesh. Remember that as the name of the man that killed you both.” Previous Chapter Next Chapter Category:Stories Category:Chapters Category:Fate/stay night: Chilling Winter Chapters